Steel and Bricks are the Bedrock of Britain's Future – They ought to be British

As of the 1^st July 2026, we will see a reduction in the amount of steel that can be imported before tariffs are applied, additional quotas being introduced on imported steel products that are also manufactured domestically (where they previously have not been in place), and an increase in tariff rates for those imports in-excess of quotas. 

These new steel trade measures, inter alia increasing the tariff rate to 50% on products that go beyond our import quota, might sound like protectionism, like the increasingly unpopular tarrifs of Trump & co.

For myself, I wish to critically press on this fear of protectionism, at least not when there is something that should be protected. Steel is, after all, a requirement of: ‘defence manufacturing’, ‘maintenance of our critical natural infrastructure’ and ‘wider industries which support our resilience such as construction’.

Moreover, considering potential disruptions to international trade and supply chains, whether it be wars or the wedging of a ship in the Suez Canal or a pandemic, recent history gives us plenty of reason to think that we shouldn’t risk being beholden to the industry of others.

Resultantly, a secure and productive steel sector can be sensibly understood as a national imperative, at least as long as we wish to insulate ourselves against burgeoning global uncertainty. The Government’s goal to ‘return domestic production to recently sustained levels of around 40% to 50% of domestic steel demand’, is then an important one, and furthermore one crying out for generalisation – in other words, why stop at steel?

Adam Jogee MP’s Private Members Bill, which would ‘require the Secretary of State to publish proposals aimed at increasing the use of British-made bricks in construction projects, including specific measures relating to the building of new homes’ exemplifies this willingness to support British industry and those who work in it. 

In his Sentinel article the genesis of this Bill is made clear. ‘If we’re aiming to build 1.5 million more homes, and working to build our future – from schools to hospitals and everything in-between, we should be doing that in a way that backs British workers and British industry.’ 

I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment. Any opposing mindset should leave us asking what on earth we are doing here. Unlocking the good sealed in a world of potentials is the job of government and supporting the nation's industry is a primary means of achieving this.

Separately, the country’s need to see real change and real progress, to reaffirm its self-confidence and identity, would be mightily served by re-centring everything British in the building of Britain. If our future is to be built and shaped in a fashion so radically different to the past half century of dismally place-less architecture built by a privatised & internationalised construction sector, then should we not be doing it with our own hands? 

Tariffs and a preference for British made products are not the end of the road, of course. Speaking in a debate on the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, Gareth Snell MP noted that:

‘We have a Government with an objective of building 1.5 million homes, but there is no support for bricks in the scheme, which means we will have to import bricks from Pakistan, on diesel-chugging super-tankers-bricks made by indentured labour in coal-fired kilns.’

In this statement, Mr Snell brings clearly into frame factors related to the environment, labour and living standards, and offers a bridge to an important consideration I want to leave you with. If we aren’t willing to support British industry, then what ills might we be supporting elsewhere in the world instead?

Image: Wikimedia Commons/CGP Grey

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